Name: Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam (Starbucks Dupe)
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: ice (as needed); 8 oz cold brew; 1 tbsp vanilla syrup; pumpkin spice (for sprinkling); 2 tbsp non-fat milk; 6 tbsp heavy cream; 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk; 1 tbsp pumpkin puree; 1/4 tsp pumpkin spice; pinch of salt

Welcome to pumpkin season and enjoy the popular Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam that you can make right at home in 5 minutes! It's the best creamy Starbucks dupe for their Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew and super easy to make with only a few items.

cup with iced coffee and pumpkin cream cold foam on top

Starbucks and Dunkin' both have their own version of a Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew! The Dunkin' Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew is a cold brew that is steeped for 12 hours and topped with a Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam, which has notes of pumpkin and warm spices like cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. It's then topped cinnamon sugar!

If you love pumpkin, try these Pumpkin Pie Samosas, Pumpkin Butter, and Pumpkin Halwa!

Jump to:

Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
What is Cold Foam?
The Ingredients - Notes and Substitutions
Recommended Kitchen Items
How to make Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam
How to make Large Batches
Serving and Storing
More Starbucks Copycats to try
Recipe

Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew

If you are like me and mark the start of fall with all things Starbucks pumpkin spice, then you most likely love the seasonal Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew. The creamy cold foam is swirled in with your coffee with a little extra pumpkin spice topping!

It adds a wonderful fall season spin to the original vanilla sweet cream cold foam. It's my favorite Starbucks seasonal drink by far. And now you can make this year round. You're welcome.

Thankfully, you can make a copycat Starbucks pumpkin cream cold foam recipe with ease right at home with nothing too fancy. The at-home version has no preservatives and is absolutely delicious when freshly whipped.

I love making a batch at the beginning of each week for my morning coffees! I think it would go super well with the Starbucks Iced Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso and an Iced Chai Latte or Dirty Chai Latte.

What is Cold Foam?

Starbucks serves a luscious cold foam - a chilled foamy dairy-based topping layered on top of it's cold brews. It's made with a non-fat milk and vanilla syrup which is then whipped in special high speed blenders. The bit of cold brew and cold foam makes for the perfect sip with their strawless lids.

If you have an aeroccino from Nespresso, you make a regular foam that is frequently seen in hot drinks like lattes and cappuccinos. For cold drinks, the hot foam simply dissipates which is where the cold foam comes in.

It was popularized by Starbucks in the United States in the recent years and has especially become popular for those who love to brew their own coffees at home.

By 2022, Starbucks has released a series of flavored cream based foams - Vanilla Sweet Cream, Salted Caramel Cream, Chocolate Cream, and the seasonal Pumpkin Cream.

The Ingredients - Notes and Substitutions

The ingredients in the Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam Cold Brew list off as: ice, coffee, pumpkin cream cold foam, vanilla syrup, and pumpkin spice for topping.

The pumpkin cream cold foam itself is made of cream, milk, sugar, condensed skim milk, pumpkin puree, fruit or vegetable juice for color, annatto (also used for dye), preservative, salt, "natural flavors", and vanilla syrup.

flatlay of ingredients for pumpkin cream cold foam

For the at-home version, we're removing the food dye and preservatives. Instead of sugar and condensed skim milk, we're using sweetened condensed milk which is much easier to find at grocery stores.

Cream - Use heavy whipping cream or half and half, but heavy whipping cream will whip up the best.
Milk - Starbucks uses a non-fat milk for their cold foam because it has a larger percentage of protein. The resulting foam is robust with larger bubbles, and holds up better than hot foam with micro-bubbles that we see with lattes. Just about any milk, including plant-based milks, will work but not as well as a non-fat dairy-based milk. We also use heavy cream so it has the structure to sit at the top of the drink
Sweetened Condensed Milk - Instead of using condensed skim milk, something which I've never seen in a grocery store, we're using sweetened condensed milk. You can also use plain condensed milk and add more or less sugar based off of preference.
Pumpkin Puree - Don't purchase pumpkin pie filling, you'll want plain canned pumpkin puree. You can also make your own pumpkin puree from fresh pumpkin. I personally think this is a great recipe if you have some leftover canned pumpkin puree from other recipes.
Pumpkin spice - Use a store-bought pumpkin spice blend or make your own. Starbucks makes their pumpkin spice with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
Vanilla Extract / Vanilla Syrup - For the cold brew, use any bottled brand of vanilla syrup, i.e. Starbucks, Torani, Monin, etc. It's also really easy to make vanilla syrup at home with vanilla extract, sugar, and water. For this recipe, mix 1 teaspoon of both sugar and hot water and a dash of high quality vanilla extract. For the cold foam, since we're using sweetened condensed milk it doesn't need extra sugar. I recommend using vanilla extract instead.
Coffee - Cold foam is best used on iced coffees - and is specifically really great with cold brews. Fresh brewed coffees or espresso shots over ice work just as well, but cold brew is really the preferred drink when it comes to cold foam.

Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam is also delicious over a Chai Latte in a Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Latte.

Recommended Kitchen Items

Handheld Electric Frother

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Torani Vanilla Syrup

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How to make Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam

There are several ways to make the cold foam. Use a frother, whisk, electric mixer, french press, blender bottle, blender, etc - whatever is convenient to you.

My recommendation for the easiest method is to:

Add the milk, heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, and pumpkin spice directly into a large mason jar.
Give the mixture a stir with a spoon so that nothing settles at the bottom.
Use a handheld electric frother in up and down motions to whisk the mixture until thick.

How to make Large Batches

Break up making the cold foam into two steps - first whipping the heavy cream, milk, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract which makes a version of the Starbucks sweet cream cold foam without using a pre-bought vanilla syrup. This helps ensure the mixture gets thick.

After it thickens, add in the pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice and whip until incorporated.

Using a whisk to whip sweet cream cold foam in a bowl

Step 1

Start by pouring the non-fat milk, or milk of choice, and heavy cream into a large mixing bowl or mason jar along with the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract.

Whip with an electric mixer until it forms large bubbles, and then continue whipping until it's smoother and thickens significantly.

This is the sweet cream cold foam base, which is used for Starbucks cold brews but can be added to any drink.

Adding pumpkin puree and spice to cold foam process collage with labels and numbers.

Step 2

Add the pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice on to the side of the bowl with the cold foam so it doesn't deflate. Continue whisking until fully combined.

And it's done!

Serving and Storing

Add ice into a cup and pour your choice of cold coffee (cold brew, espresso, chilled coffee).

Serve about a ¼ - ½ cup of the cold foam per cup of iced coffee or cold brew. The recipe makes 1-2 servings depending on desired amount in your coffee. Transfer the cold foam to a pourer to pour it over iced coffee, or spoon it on to the top. Sprinkle a bit of additional pumpkin spice.

pouring pumpkin cream cold foam from a pourer into a cup of coffee

To store leftover cold foam, keep it in a mason jar with an airtight lid. When ready to use again, you can shake the mason jar vigorously.

If you have several servings in the mason jar, transfer ¼ cup to another jar and use an electric frother, a mini whisk, etc to froth it until thick.

macro shot of pumpkin cream cold foam with pumpkin spice

More Starbucks Copycats to try

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Recipe

*Note: The video skips showing the addition of heavy cream in with the milk, vanilla extract, and sweetened condensed milk. However, it does make it in there.